A 60 Year-Old California Wine Family Is Trying To Change The Way You Eat Steak

Go to a steakhouse and any waiter/sommelier worth their salt will
pair your cut with a red wine.

Wallinda and Peter McCrea, of Stony Hill Vineyard (one of Napa's
first) are trying to change all of that. They've carefully
created a collection of white wines that pair perfectly with red
meat,
says the Dallas News.

It's all to celebrate 60 years of wine making that dates back to
Peter's parents purchase of a Napa Valley goat ranch in 1943.
Back then there was no electricity, no phone, and hardly any
travel between Napa and San Francisco.

So the McCrea's have come along way, and to honor that, they
decided to do something different with their first Cabernet
Sauvignon.

Obviously this is big news in steak country, and that's why ten
cases of the wine were sent to Texas. That's where Dallas News
writer Kim Pierce met the couple for dinner at Pappas Bros.
Steakhouse.

...Pappas executive chef James
Johnson presented entrees with two small portions of dry-aged
prime strip loin. One was sauced with Bearnaise, the other with
lime hollandaise. The McCreas celebrated 60 years of winemaking
this year with the production of their first cabernet
sauvignon...

Call this the anti-Cal cab: beautifully balanced fruit and
acidity (13.5 percent alcohol), absent the screaming,
alcohol-on-steroids jamminess more common to California cabs. We
ate it with the bernaise – and bingo! With the less acidic sauce,
it was a wonderful match. But you knew it would be.

We ate the other strip sirloin, the one with the lime
hollandaise, with three vintages of chardonnay (2005, 2007, 2008)
– and bingo! It was heavenly with every vintage...

As much as we were primed to be believers, the white wine-steak
match was still surprising. “We did it just to prove that
you can drink white wine with meat,” McCrea said. Werley added:
“A hint of salt and a hint of acid, and you can drink any white
with beef.” Point taken.

It's a mind-bending notion for die-hard steak fans, but if they
could approve it Texas, it can't be that sacrilegious,
right?